1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to surgical instruments. More particularly, this invention relates to endoscopic surgical instruments having component parts which may be disassembled in order to clean the instrument prior to reuse.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Endoscopic surgical procedures require the use of elongated instruments having some handle or control means at the proximal end and a variety of different working elements or instruments at the distal end to facilitate such activities as cutting, gripping, applying ligating clips, etc. These instruments are inserted through a cannula to enable the surgeon to place the instrument at a working site within the body, the site being viewed by a camera through an endoscope inserted through another portal in the body.
Since endoscopic instruments are often reused, they must be cleaned and sterilized between each use. The current designs of reusable endoscopic instruments do not always facilitate such cleaning and sterilization. One known prior art manner of cleaning reusable endoscopic instruments is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/913,852, assigned to the assignee hereof. The instrument shown in this application incorporates a rotatable elongated working element having a check valve near the proximal end adapted for flushing the interior of the instrument during the cleaning process.
It is also known in the prior art to disassemble surgical instruments for cleaning purposes although the disassembly of endoscopic surgical instruments has often been either cumbersome or insufficient to assure adequate cleaning of the instrument.
It is an object of the present invention to produce an endoscopic surgical instrument in which selected portions of the instrument may be disassembled to facilitate cleaning prior to reuse.
It is also an object of this invention to produce an endoscopic surgical instrument having a minimum number of parts which need to be disassembled in order to facilitate the cleaning process.